Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a glorified learning module.
Yes there are minigames, but the bulk of it is about reading information and then answering questions about Nintendo’s fastest selling console of all time.
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Nintendo fans may love these details; and they certainly added to my appreciation of the technology built into the system.
But with so little to actually play here, Nintendo should have definitely packed this one in with the console for free.
Night at the Museum
Nintendo’s introduction to its new console is an interactive learning experience.
Imagine a giant museum, in the shape of the Nintendo Switch 2 and its accessories, where you can walk around to read about each feature or get involved in a demonstration.
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You pick a character from a long line of avatars waiting to get into the exhibition, and start your journey with an escalator ride to the left Joy-Con 2.
There are demos to experience, minigames to play and stamps to find in every area, and you’ll need to collect every stamp before gaining access to the next area. These stamps label every imaginable point of interest about the Switch 2; from buttons to lighting to connection ports and the chips inside the system itself.
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They’re not particularly difficult to find and, as the only item tied to progression, you could make your way to the very end of the game without playing a single minigame.
Everything is organised and presented in a checklist that tickled the obsessive completionist in me, but finding and returning items like hats and glasses to the lost and found desk is hardly critical.
You call this a minigame?
There are 20 minigames and 14 demos to play in Welcome Tour.
Neither come close to what you may expect after a lifetime of Mario Party minigames.
Most of the demos are super basic but there are some exceptions.
One does an incredible job showing off the system’s 3D sound capabilities by allowing you to pilot a tiny helicopter around the screen. Another taps heavily into nostalgia to drive home the clarity of 4K, displaying the opening level of Super Mario Bros. at its initial pixel count, which had me standing within centimetres of my 82-inch Samsung TV to see what was going on.
Completing these demos earns you medals which you’ll need to access later demos and minigames.
These minigames are slightly more involved.
Most heavily rely on the Switch 2’s new mouse mode. You’ll use the Joy-Con 2 to dodge spiked balls while piloting a space ship, play some basic putt-putt golf and spot individual pixels floating around the screen.
In others, you’ll need to identify a secret spot on screen or identify a hidden letter using a combination of mouse-mode and Nintendo’s next generation of HD rumble. Unfortunately, these were among my least favourite minigames.
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My favourites
My favourites didn’t involve the Joy-Con at all.
Ten-finger Twister was a fun challenge that showed off the screen’s ability to record (you guessed it) ten touch inputs at once.
If you have a webcam connected, there’s a game that requires you to pull funny faces and match the expressions being displayed on screen.
And, if you have a Pro Controller 2 connected, there’s a great game that requires you to pull off a series of increasingly difficult button combinations to break through ‘locks’ which heavily relies on the controller’s new back buttons (GL and GR).
Unfortunately, if you don’t have a camera, a pro controller 2 or a 4K TV, some of these minigames won’t be available to you.
That’s both annoying if you’re playing on the go (and in bed) or if you’ve decided not to purchase any of those items.
Should you play it?
If it was free, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour would be easy to recommend.
I enjoyed learning about the system and some of the questionnaires were genuinely funny. I’d love it if Nintendo ever wanted to apply this system to those boring learning modules we all have to do at work (and they’d probably make a pretty penny).
But when you’re charging for a game, it’s a value proposition.
These minigames would struggle to hold most people’s attention for more than a minute. And most have zero replay value, which is odd for a Nintendo game.
Yes, the game is polished. Yes, it’s very well presented.
But we live in a world where Astro’s Playroom, Nintendo Land and Wii Sports came free with the Playstation 5, Wii U and Wii.
They both taught you about the system you had just bought and were genuinely good games.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour doesn’t come close to that standard.
Quest Daily scores Nintendo Switch Welcome Tour 2:
5/10
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is out now and retails for $15.
A review copy of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour was supplied to the writer by Nintendo for the purpose of this article.
